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I interviewed at Apple and talked with 8 engineers. Some had been working there for 6 years and none of them could tell me anything that they had worked on. The
by cbsks 6y ago
I interviewed at Apple and talked with 8 engineers. Some had been working there for 6 years and none of them could tell me anything that they had worked on. They couldn’t even tell me if anything they had worked on had shipped. Sounded like a really interesting place to work, but if you can’t tell anyone about it, does it matter?
- chrisseaton 6y agoThere are normal engineers at Apple that can and do tell people about what they’re working on like anyone else would. https://webkit.org/blog/5852/introducing-the-b3-jit-compiler/ https://webkit.org/blog/5852/introducing-the-b3-jit-compiler...
- saagarjha 6y agoI wouldn't call that "like anyone else would". Those blog posts are planned in advance and get approval before being put online, as they are essentially considered to be official statements from the WebKit team.
- webble1 6y agothe number of people involved with this blog post is likely no less than 100 people across 15 teams.
- endtime 6y ago> Sounded like a really interesting place to work, but if you can’t tell anyone about it, does it matter? ...yes? I like working on interesting stuff so that my days aren't boring.
- systemvoltage 6y agoIn other companies, you can build a personal + professional goodwill by inventing things and making breakthroughs. At Apple, the brand encapsulates your achievements without anything to show for it. You're dust at the end of your career in exchange for a salary and a stack of non-disclosure agreements that expire on upon your death.
- tambourine_man 6y agoCounter point: Chris Lattner.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- temac 6y agoHe started LLVM before going to Apple. Likewise Michael Sweet created CUPS and went to work on it at Apple at some point.
- tambourine_man 6y agoThe whole WebKit team is another example. A lot of things are secret at Apple, others not so much
- coldtea 6y agoSo, any of those Google, Amazon, Facebook guys that are famous for what they've done there, and/or have built "personal + professional goodwill"? (And not after-the-fact hires of already famous people like Rob Pike, Dan Abramov, etc).
- andreilys 6y agoThere were countless of individuals that worked on breaking Enigma encryption machine employed by the Nazi’s during WW2. You can rest assured that their work mattered, even if they couldn’t talk about it.
- gcheong 6y agoYeah so far I don’t think Apple has done anything equivalent in importance to the Enigma code breakers to warrant the comparison so when someone from Apple says they can’t tell me what they’re working on it just sounds like corporate arrogance or paranoia, smoke and mirrors to play up a carefully crafted and managed corporate image, not something I’m counting on for the future of society.
- xvector 6y agoI would say the creation of the iPhone was at least as impactful.
- coldtea 6y ago>Yeah so far I don’t think Apple has done anything equivalent in importance to the Enigma code breakers That's probably because the Enigma code breaking has been mythologized. The war would have won without it (and it mostly was on the Eastern front anyway).
- gcheong 6y agoIt’s easy to say that in retrospect but to anyone working on it I’m sure it felt more important for the outcome of the war than being able to put 1000 songs in your pocket or whatever.
- Apocryphon 6y agoOkay, then replace the Enigma reference with the Manhattan Project, an operation so secret the military built a city isolated from the world for it.
- 6y ago
- kyawzazaw 6y agoyeah, it does. I don't tell other people much about my work.
- spoonjim 6y ago> but if you can’t tell anyone about it, does it matter? Some people need to be publicly associated with work for it to matter to them. Others don’t. It’s just a personal choice. If you work on a lifesaving drug inside a big pharmaceutical company and never get any extra money or accolades for it, you still saved those lives. Your work still definitely matters.
- courtf 6y agoThe work matters, no question, just not enough to be compensated proportionally to its value. No, the money and prestige don't belong to the people who actually make the things we use and enjoy, it all goes to the top where it belongs. If you're obedient they'll keep you around, but certainly some other slave could have done the same work for cheaper so don't get too comfortable. Now my company is very different, we have respect for our workers and let no part of the employee go to waste. When you've outlived your usefulness your ulna will be fashioned into a long spoon for serving gruel, and the dome of your skull becomes a fine bowl. We actually use half of my former cofounder's pelvis as a frisbee during offsites! Your work will outlive you, and continue to aid the company for many years after you've been decommissioned. That should be enough to comfort you in your final moments, as you await incineration.
- spoonjim 6y agoYou have a very cynical perspective on white collar corporate work. Mine is the exact opposite. I make several hundreds of thousands of dollars for working about six hours a day indoors in a nice chair with air conditioning. I don’t care about the company’s success nor do I need to care. If my kid is sick or I’m having an off day I just don’t come in. I can afford basically anything I genuinely want. It’s a very good bargain from my side.
- courtf 6y agoCongrats on achieving useless corporate parasite status, it's everyone's dream, but I was responding to your comment, not your life.
- 6y ago
- coin 6y ago> but if you can’t tell anyone about it, does it matter? This is also the case for folks that work on classified projects such at the NSA. There’s more to working than bragging about it to others.
- whatshisface 6y agoGood luck getting your next job when your resume has a 6 year blank spot.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoSimply working at Apple for 6 years carries it’s own weight.
- DanBC 6y ago"Bob worked at GCHQ between month/year and month/year". Lots of places understand that there are strict confidentiality agreements (whether those are by convention, contract like NDA, or law like Official Secrets) and they often welcome this.
- titanomachy 6y agoNot sure if this is a reference to Charles Stross's Laundry series (whose protagonist is named Bob and works at GCHQ as an occult computer scientist) or if just a coincidence. Recommended reading either way!
- DanBC 6y agoOh, no, just a coincidence. The Laundry series is very good!
- coldtea 6y agoA "6 year blank spot" working for Apple or NSA? Doesn't sound like you'd need any luck...
- webble1 6y ago
- alsetmusic 6y agoSounds like you may have interviewed with engineers working on an upcoming product that hadn't been announced. I worked there and my friends and family knew what product team I was on. I couldn't tell anyone anything specific about the work, but it wasn't a total mystery.
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